US Open greatest player
- Thread starter jasonlaus
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His web site says he has 6 first place finishes ,, Mike certainly belongs in any conversation as the best player , I still think Earls top gear was second to none he just flat out destroyed his opponent and made it look so rediculasly easy Tiger woods style
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I am obviously biased being in Shane's generation, but WAY more credit has to be given to going all the way. Also, Mike's personality does not make we want to give him the credit. For the last 10 years, he has won essentially nothing and is not that old.
Mike Sigel was awesome. Very recently it was stated he had the highest average TPA of anyone. Reyes said Sigel was one of his toughest opponents ever as did Bustamante. Sigel is one of the greatest ever, regardless of how few people on AZB realize it. The pros who 0layed him long before the IPA know.
Sigel doesn't really play any more and hasn't played on a regular basis for about 25 years
Mike was one of the best ever. He not only had plenty of firepower, but he also played very smart. I never really cared for him. I played him a race to 20 in 3 cushion billiards for I $50 or $100 at CM Lee's in Seminole, FL. He won 20-17 and refused to give me another game...even though he hung around the hall for another hour at least. Johnnyt
I agree that Earl's top gear was second to none, even to this day, but Mike was more consistent overall than Earl. As Jay Helfert mentioned in another thread, Mike's TPA was consistently the best in pro tournaments, and Mike won something like 11 finals matches in a row at one point.
On the other hand, there's no question that the depth of competition today is much greater at the U.S. Open than it was when either Mike or Earl won their titles, and that matters as well.
I have no doubt that Sigel in his prime could compete against and win against the best in the world today, he just might not win as often as he did in the 70's and 80's.
I'm pretty sure that Reyes said Sigel was his toughest opponent ever.
Yesteryear's TPAs were on looser pockets.
My point was that Sigel consistently had the highest TPA in tournaments, eh.
Reyes has played everybody, and he said Sigel was the toughest opponent he's ever played.
Nah -- 1976 (the first one), 1980, and 1983 = 3.
Earl put more packages and bigger packages together than anyone, tighter pockets or not.
As someone mentioned before, the great Efren Reyes was quoted as saying Mike Sigel was his favorite player. I don't remember the quote but I believe Reyes said Sigel was the toughest opponent he ever faced as well.
This is what is great about pool. A non-team sport where we could argue who is the best until the end of time. It's just beautiful to watch a pro hit top gear.
This is what is great about pool. A non-team sport where we could argue who is the best until the end of time. It's just beautiful to watch a pro hit top gear.
If people want to through Worst into the mix all the time on these things how about a player people ALWAYS forget who is almost never mentioned on this forum but was surely extremely dominant in his era, Joe "The Meatman" Balsis.